Video Poker Variations

While people who like skill-based games tend to gravitate towards video poker, there are several different styles or variations of video poker available. With so many options, it can be tricky to figure out which types of video poker you want to play. Knowing how the video poker variations are related can help you to make better decisions about what to play and how to get the best payouts available.

The Defining Characteristics

The key feature that splits up video poker games into two groups is whether or not they use a wild card. Jacks or Better is the most popular game without them, and Deuces Wild is the most popular variation that uses them. The strategic principles for each of these two types of video poker are fundamentally different, and most people will tend to specialize in one type or the other.

Non-Wild Card Games

As we mentioned above, Jacks or Better is the most basic type of video poker overall. Play in this game centers around trying to make simple decisions between how to play pairs and how to play different types of draws. Since the average value of your hand is going to be lower in this type of game because of the lack of wild cards, the ability to play high-card hands and single pair hands is extremely important.

Tens or Better is a similar game that gives you an extra chance to make a payout with a single pair. If you’re looking for more chances to make big payouts, however, then you’ll want to check out Aces and Faces. This is a game that doesn’t use wild cards, but you have opportunities to get better payouts for certain big hands that center around four of a kind in Aces and face cards.

Wild Card Games

When evaluating a wild card game, you’ll want to know how dense the wilds are in the deck. You do this by dividing the total number of wilds in the deck by the total number of cards in the deck. In Deuces Wild, this factor is about 7.7 percent. Joker Poker is the second most popular type of wild card game when it comes to video poker, and it uses a 53-card deck with a single wild joker. Only 1.9 percent of the cards in the deck are wild in this game, so even though it includes a wild, it plays a bit differently. Wild card games center around learning how to play crazy draws while trying to make big hands.

How to Choose Among the Variations

Tactical players who like to focus on making big hands should stick to games with wild cards. This will satisfy your appetite for making big payouts on a regular basis. For players who are more strategical, the non-wild cards will appeal to your need to make the best of low holdings like high-card hands and low pairs in a game that centers around incremental value adding up over longer periods of play.